Recommendation for all those with live plants

This is a discussion on Recommendation for all those with live plants within the Beginner Planted Aquarium forums, part of the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium category; -->
Hey guys, thought I'd drop in a tip...
Many of you will know of this anyway, so sorry if you do and you still ...

Many of you will know of this anyway, so sorry if you do and you still read...

Anyway, what I've suffered from is that I've been in situations where I'm away for the day and I have no one to turn the tank lights on, and so I'm in a bit of a struggle! However, now I have a timer!

Basically, the timer itself plugs into the socket, and has a dial attached to it, as well as a plug hole. You plug your light into the plug hole attached to the timer, and then set the dial to allow electricity through at a certain time, and then to stop it x amount of time later. For example, I have my lights on 8 hours a day from 3:30pm to 11:30pm. It works perfectly and I've had no problems so far, it's also a good clock! lol. It just makes it easier not having to get somebody to do it for you, also, I don't have to worry about whether they've remembered!!!!

I know that loads of you will have these, I just wanted to point it out for those of you who don't...!

Good tip...IMO, a timer is a necessary piece of equipment for a fish tank even if you don't have plants. The fish or whatever you have living in your tank really need to be on a consistent light/dark cycle. Just imagine how you would be if you were getting very irregular hours of day and night, never knowing when or if the lights were going to come on or go off. They are cheap enough and just are a good thing to use.

Many of you will know of this anyway, so sorry if you do and you still read...

Anyway, what I've suffered from is that I've been in situations where I'm away for the day and I have no one to turn the tank lights on, and so I'm in a bit of a struggle! However, now I have a timer!

Basically, the timer itself plugs into the socket, and has a dial attached to it, as well as a plug hole. You plug your light into the plug hole attached to the timer, and then set the dial to allow electricity through at a certain time, and then to stop it x amount of time later. For example, I have my lights on 8 hours a day from 3:30pm to 11:30pm. It works perfectly and I've had no problems so far, it's also a good clock! lol. It just makes it easier not having to get somebody to do it for you, also, I don't have to worry about whether they've remembered!!!!

I know that loads of you will have these, I just wanted to point it out for those of you who don't...!

I just got two timers for my 20 & 10 gallon tanks. Awesome! To describe it in one word. My schedule is erratic (career), and I'm not there to cater to my tanks. I got my timers at Home Depot. They were $4.99 a piece, a great buy. I prefer the 'manual dial' type over the digital type. Sometimes less tech is better :)

Best $5 I ever spent. Timers are a vital peice of equipment for every aquarium and I would love to see lights with built in timers become a standard. Timers are just that important. Excellent recommendation Reece!